Diachronic Phonology

Det svenska sammandraget (1½ sida) och den svenska resumén (20 sidor) av min doktorsavhandling, som behandlar frågor kring de skandinaviska språkens ljudhistoria från 200-talet till 1200-talet e.Kr., belysta delvis av deras kontakter med samtida förstadier till finska och av gamla ortnamn från kontaktzonen, och delvis av teoretisk ljudhistorisk rekonstruktion. I två uppsatser granskas etymologier för ortnamn i södra och sydvästra Finland som belyser tidig språkkontakt. I etymologiska fallstudier behandlas namnen Kjulo och Tavastland. Namnet Karis jämförs med isländska sagornas Herdalar och förklaringen av hur fi. ruotsi 'svensk' hör ihop med ~ fsv. rōþ-och rȳtzẹr 'ryss' problematiseras. Flera farledsnamn diskuteras som är upptagna i det s.k. " Danska itinerariet " liksom ett större urval namn som kunde vara gamla i en Åländsk kontext: Eckerö, Geta, Jomala och Lemland, och därtill Järsö, Skedholm, Styrsö, Slemmern och Lemböte. De allra äldsta förhistoriska alternativen för att förklara namnen Åland och Ahvenanmaa problematiseras och ett nytt förslag framförs. I den första uppsatsen undersöks ett urval av lånord bevarade i finskan och dess närmaste släktspråk och särskilt vad deras ljuddräkter kan avslöja om förändringar i urnordiskans ljudsystem. T.ex. ordet fi. leikata 'att klippa, skära' återförs på en urfinsk form *lɤikka-med bakvokaliskt uttal, som har lånats tidigt från ett urnordiskt original *blaikijan 'göra blek, avhugga en bläcka', innan *blaik-frontades till *blaeik-. En tillrättalagd analys av många etymologier tidsbestämmer de granskade lånen till tiden före det nordiska i-omljudet. De två sista uppsatserna föreslår en ny ljudhistorisk beskrivning av 500/600-talens övergångsnordiska då de flesta omljudda vokalerna, såsom t.ex. nusvenskt y och ö, uppkom, vilket medförde växlingar illustrerade av svenska dölja/döljer/dolde, mat/mätt och duga/dygd. Generationer av ljudhistoriker har allt sedan Rasmus Rask och Jacob Grimm under nästan 200 år gäckats av ett otal problem som gäller när, hur och med vilka slutresultat omljuden från början verkade. I den fjärde uppsatsen visas att de senaste förklaringarna som erbjudits beträffande frontningsomljudet inte är hållbara. Ett nytt förslag presenteras för att förklara en större mängd ohanterliga data med färre allmängiltiga antagen. Problemet som den sista uppsatsen siktar på att lösa är hur frontningsomljudet, vokaliskt framkallad brytning (som t.ex. i svenska mjöd) och rundningsomljud (som t.ex. i svenska dugg av dagg) kan förklaras inom en och samma analys.

This paper classifies dipping tones in the framework of the Multi-Register and Four-Level Model, using new, firsthand acoustic data. Seven dipping types are identified. Four of them are produced in normal clear voice and affiliated with the Modal Register: (1) Central Dipping, typologically transcribed as /323/, (2) Back Dipping /523/, (3) Front Dipping /324/, and (4) Double Circumflex /4343/. The remaining three are produced with non-clear voice qualities: (5) Slack Dipping /213/ in L Register, (6) Creaky Dipping /202/ in the Lower Register, and (7) Fortis-Creak Dipping /405/ in the Upper Register. Each of the seven dipping tones contrasts with one or another with four distinctive features [± RgM, RgL, Hfront, Hback].

Nauruan is a Micronesian language that has been classified outside of
the Nuclear Micronesian group. This classification suggests that Nauruan, unlike all other Micronesian languages, did not descend from Proto-Micronesian. Though this view has been adopted in the literature, it should be considered tenuous. It is based on little Nauruan data and is informed by work that is presented as highly tentative. This paper presents a reassessment of Nauruan classification, drawing on data from original fieldwork. Research shows not only that Nauruan is a Micronesian language, but that there is no compelling evidence for classifying Nauruan apart from the Nuclear group. Of particular importance is the claim that Nauruan fails to reflect the merger of Proto-Oceanic *d and *dr as Proto-Micronesian *c (Jackson 1986). Comparative evidence suggests that Nauruan does reflect this merger: POc *d, *dr > PMc *c > ř. It follows that Jackson’s classification for Nauruan is unmotivated, as is the Nuclear/non-Nuclear distinction within the family. Having established that Nauruan need not be classified apart from the Nuclear group, Nauruan’s precise classification within the Micronesian family is considered. A question of primary importance is whether Nauruan reflects the merger of Proto-Micronesian *s and *S. The possibility that Nauruan did not participate in this merger is considered, in which case Nauruan should be classified outside of the Central Micronesian group, like Kosraean. The possibility that Nauruan did participate in this merger is also considered, in which case Nauruan should be classified somewhere within Central Micronesian. Further, some innovations are described which are potentially shared between Nauruan and certain Central Micronesian languages. The possibility that these are shared innovations is considered, as are the implications this would have for Nauruan classification.

To appear in The Handbook of Portuguese Linguistics, João Costa, Sergio Menuzzi & W. Leo Wetzels, eds. Wiley-Blackwell. Expected late 2015.

The present chapter explores the main phonological changes that characterize the linguistic evolution of Portuguese from Latin, with special attention to those that distinguish it from its neighbors, although as a descendant of Latin, Portuguese shares many traits with its Romance language sisters, particularly in the Iberian Peninsula.
The chapter is organized as follows: section 2 treats various issues related to the evolution of syllable structure from Late Spoken Latin through Hispano-Romance to Modern Portuguese. This will include treatment of (inter-)related phenomena that affect segments, both individually and in combination, of vowels and consonants, including some that occur only sporadically. Section 3 further addresses salient characteristics of the vocalic system. Section 4 treats morphophonological issues of grammaticalization, contraction and prosody that characterize Portuguese in contrast to other Romance varieties. Section 5 offers a brief conclusion.

Este trabajo analiza, desde distintos modelos y escuelas, los criterios propuestos para delimitar el concepto de fuerza consonántica y, en su perspectiva evolutiva, el de refuerzo consonántico. Se analizan condicionantes fonéticos y fonológicos; articulatorios, acústicos y perceptivos; segmentales y suprasegmentales. Se sugiere que los modelos basados en gestos articulatorios (como la Fonología Articulatoria o la Fonología Evolutiva) son, seguramente, los que mejor explican estos fenómenos fortitivos.
Teniendo en cuenta que son más fuertes los sonidos sordos (con gesto de apertura glotal), orales (con gesto de cierre velofaríngeo) y obstruyentes (con gesto de estrechamiento o, mejor aún, cierre oral), se propone que el criterio fonético que mejor recoge la contribución conjunta de todos estos gestos es la presión intraoral. Un mayor aporte de aire gracias a una glotis abierta y un menor escape gracias al cierre velofaríngeo y del canal oral son los responsables de un mayor aumento de la presión y, por tanto, esta puede constituir un índice de la fuerza consonántica.
A lo largo del trabajo se mencionan datos relativos a 147 lenguas, de filiaciones y procedencias geográficas muy diferentes. De ese corpus, 66 lenguas parecen mostrar claros ejemplos de refuerzo a nivel diacrónico.
Se concluye con una reflexión sobre las relaciones entre variación fonética sincrónica y cambio fonológico diacrónico, de tal modo que ciertos cambios que se inician como debilitamientos pueden, en perspectiva histórica, dar lugar a refuerzos consonánticos consolidados en la forma fonológica de las palabras.

D'une point de vue articulatoire, la diphtongaison consiste dans la segmentation d'une voyelle en deux éléments de timbre différent (ex : [ai], [ei]). Elle résulte non pas d'un affaiblissement de l'effort musculaire mais plutôt d'une plus grande dépense d'energie articulatoire. Le terme << diphtongaison romane >> s'applique traditionnellement à l'evolution des voyelles latines ĕ et ŏ, accentuées dans la plupart des langues romanes. Si on la désigne par le terme de diphtongaison romane, c'est pour la distinguer de la diphtongaison qui frappe ẹ (< ē, ĭ) et ọ (< ō, ŭ) accentués, et qu'on appelle diphtongaison française, bien que son extension géographique ne se limite pas au territoire où l'on parle le français proprement dit.

Généralement, le terme << diphtongaison >> s'agit de la scission d'une voyelle simple (monophtongue) en deux éléments, dont le degré d'aperture est différent. C'est ainsi que ĕ et ŏ accentuées soumis à la diphtongaison romane aboutissent en toscan à ie et uo. La diphtongaison romane donne donc des diphtongues dont le premier élément est plus fermé que le second, tandis que l'inverse se produit pour la diphtogaison française : ei, ou. On dit que ie est une diphtongue ouvrante et ei une diphtongue fermante.

Dans les langues où la diphtongaison domane a lieu, ĕ aboutit presque toujours à ie ; une évolution postérieure en ia ne se rencontre que sporadiquement, par exemple, en léonais. Par contre, une évolution ultérieure uo est courante : ue en espagnol et en ancien français, ö en français moderne, pour ne citer que quelques exemples typiques.

En français et en toscan, cette diphtogaison semble avoir lieu principalement dans les cas où la voyelle latine se trouvait en syllabe ouverte (la voyelle étant libre), alors qu'en espagnol, par exemple, la diphtongaison se manifeste aussi bien en syllabe ouverte qu'en syllabe fermée (voyelle entravée). En outre, dans un nombre assez considérable de langues et de dialectes, la diphtongaison sembre être liée à la métaphonie et notamment à l'influence d'un ī ou d'un ŭ de la syllabe finale. Quel est le résultat de l'evolution de ĕ et ŏ accentuées dans le français ? Le français présente, tant dans la langue officielle que dans les dialectes, une diphtongue (ie pour ĕ accentuée, ö issu d'une diphtongue pour ŏ accentuée) en syllabe ouverte, tandis que sous l'entrave, la diphtongue n'apparait que devant un élement palatal et dans quelques autres cas particuliers. Dialectalement, on trouve cependant i comme résultat d'un ĕ accentuée libre, mais le plus important, c'est de constater que certains dialectes péripheriques (le wallon et en partie le lorrain) connaissent la diphtongaison même en syllabe fermée.

Le français méridional ne connaît généralement pas de diphtongaison sauf dans le voisinage d'un élément palatal (et parfois vélaire). Il est vrai qu'on la trouve sporadiquement et surtout dans l'extrême sud-est, mais à moins d'en donner une description détaillée, on peut dire que le français méridional est généralement dépourvu de diphtongues.

Onde não chegaram os portugueses com as suas caravelas?
Desde Ceuta, em Marrocos, conquistada em 1415, ao Japão, alcançado por acaso em 1542 (por três mercadores de peles, Francisco Zeimoto, António da Mota e António Peixoto, que faziam rota para a China mas sofreram naufrágio até às costas da ilha Tanega Shima – só sete anos depois a Companhia de Jesus começará a sua obra de conversão por Francisco Xavier), ao longo de apenas dois séculos e meio Portugal tocou todos os oceanos e correu verdadeiramente as sete partidas do mundo.
A Época dos Descobrimentos e das Explorações, porém, depois do seu declínio (marcado pelo surgir das potências holandesa e inglesa) continuou a sobreviver nos chamados « novos continentes ». Não quero referir-me só aos vestígios materiais deixados pela presença lusitana nas terras colonizadas – instalações civis e de marinha, fortalezas, desembarques e portos, etc. –, mas sim a um imenso património cultural e sonoro: o das línguas recém-nascidas (com respeito aos séculos dos descobrimentos) de base portuguesa – os crioulos...

Fundamentals of English Phonetics and Phonology has been written out of our sincere desire to help the learners of English (especially as second language) to understand better, the definition, formation, description, classification, transcription of not only English sounds or sounds of other languages across the world; but the other terms related to phonetics and phonology. Designed for students of Universities and Colleges of Education, especially students undergoing courses related to Phonetics and Phonology, it is hoped to give both the undergraduate and postgraduate students a basic introduction to the phonetics and phonology of English.  Apart from the expressive and comprehensive nature of the text, it has elaborate references of materials consulted, and theses that are also meant for further reading. It also has index for easy referencing. The lucidity of presentation in the text makes it a unique addition to the existing literatures on this aspect of language study.  The book is divided into nineteen chapters.  Each of the chapters covers different aspects to give a good foundation to the course – phonetics and phonology.

Chapter 6 (by Santazilia) is a study of the Basque noun morphology, which sets out the noun paradigm of historical Basque and the structure of its NP, and then goes on to list the explanations proposed so far for every aspect concerning the formation of that paradigm: first the number/definiteness axis, and then the individual cases, classifying these into primary cases (grammatical and local), secondary cases (those built upon the allative and the genitive), and pseudo-flectional morphemes or non-cases.

Fifty years after its original release, Fonética Histórica Vasca continues to be the main reference insofar as Basque historical phonology is concerned. Although the seminal work of Michelena is, undoubtedly, the most significant milestone in the history of Basque diachronical phonology (maybe even within Basque diachrony itself), an update of the latest research postdating this work represents indeed an interesting endeavor. There are, however, different ways to undertake such an investment of time and effort. In this work, I have chosen to go beyond a simple compilation of the articles on Basque historical phonology written in the last fifty years, by producing a new survey. Thus, this chapter is a summary of the most significant work on the history of the Basque language, but it also introduces comments and discussion on it.

The chapter addresses, after a brief historiographic overview of Ryukyuan historical linguistics, those topics on phonology (vowels, consonants, accent/tone), grammar (verbs, adjectives, case, kakari-musubi) and lexicon (pronouns, demonstratives) for which the contribution of Ryukyuan is, or has been claimed to be, important for the reconstruction of proto-Japanese-Ryukyuan (pJR), the common ancestor of Japanese and Ryukyuan.

"The Influence of Writing on Language

The study of writing and language as semiotic codes in contact should have logically followed from the Saussurian statement: "Language and writing are two distinct systems of signs". On the same theoretical basis as that of contact linguistics, the contact between language and writing might be conducive to mutual semiotic transfer. The acquisition of writing induces a radical cognitive change and the emergence of writing within a linguistic community modifies its organisation. The greater physical force of the visual stimulus as against aural stimulus and the high prestige gained by the mastery of writing are the cognitive and social factors that favour semiotic transfer from writing to language.
With regard to lexicon, a writing tradition accompanied by an orthoepy (rules of reading aloud) provides the language with words from afar in place and in time, like learned words from classical tongues and graphic loanwords between languages whose linguistic communities are not in direct contact. Graphemic words with no linguistic provenance are also vernacularised, like the lexicalisation of abbreviations. The vernacularisation of written elements enriches language. A particularly extreme case of vernacularised written sources is that of the emergence of spoken Modern Hebrew – literary non vernacular Hebrew of early 20th century being its main source.
On the phonological level, orthoepy may modify phonology, as can be shown by the emergence of consonantal clusters in French and of /θ/ in author in English. On the semantic level, writing may be the source of the reorganisation of the signifiés based on spelling; numerous figures of speech are inspired by the attributes of writing.

Keywords:
Writing, orthoepy, semiotic transfer, lexical enrichment, morphophonology, linguistic change

http://www.sudoc.fr/147369126"

This dissertation analyzes Basque diachronic phonology within a phonetically informed approach to sound patterns and sound change as well as being grounded in cross-linguistic typological tendencies and incorporates results from laboratory phonology. Linguistic contact is also taken into account. This approach not only calls for the inclusion of phonetic explanations for the historical processes of Basque, it also aims to find typological parallels in genetically unrelated languages, in order to shed light on the processes under analysis. The general hypothesis is that typologically common sound changes and sound patterns are precisely those with well understood phonetic origins (Blevins 2004). In short, typological parallels and phonetic bases provide a deeper understanding of Basque historical phonology and illuminate the important contributions isolates can make to theories of sound change.

En este trabajo, primero se explica el sistema vocálico del latín, para luego estudiar la evolución de las vocales átonas al español desde el punto de vista fonológico. Se presenta el análisis vocálico de segmentos átonas y tónicas, limitándose a la influencia de la yod en la evolución de estas últimas, y un posterior resumen de la evolución del sistema vocálico átono de acuerdo con la posición de cada segmento.

This paper presents an overview of the Latin vowel system, and then an analysis of the yod-influenced phonological diachronic change of the stressed vowels from Late Latin to Old Spanish. Additionally, the evolution of the unstressed vowel system as a function of the position of each segment is discussed, in order to round-up the analysis of the evolution of both stressed and unstressed vowels from Late Latin into Spanish.

Several basic-lexicon etymologies, with regular sound correspondences, suggest Hurro-Urartian (HU) might be derived from (or related to) Proto-Indo-European (PIE). Preliminary evidence suggests North-Caucasian (NC) languages might also be related to PIE – in particular, to Iranian languages and Armenian.

In 2013, a detailed research paper by Gianfranco Forni appeared in The Journal of Indo-European Studies, describing a breakthrough finding: the Basque language, whose origins had so far remained obscure, actually is an Indo-European language. The main reason why this fact had escaped previous researchers is that Basque underwent a long chain of phonetic changes, which obscured its ultimate origin.
This dictionary is designed to make the origin of Basque easy to understand for a wider audience. The main sound laws linking Proto-Indo-European to Basque are explained in a simple, terse way. Each etymology of Basque basic, native lexicon is accompanied by intermediate reconstructions, an extensive list of cognates, and detailed references to sources. Several indices make this dictionary easy to use as a reference tool.
If you are eager to understand how the mystery of the origins of Basque can now be unraveled, this dictionary will guide you through this exciting discovery.

The author pursues an improved diachronic phonological understanding of reconstructed pre-documentary Scandinavian language, with more in-depth consideration given to its vowel history, its eastern vernaculars and the lexical traces of contact with Finnic. Some of the main findings, notably those concerning the umlauts and the history of contrast in the vowel system, have implications for earlier Germanic vowel history beyond the study of Scandinavian. 
These are the English language portions of the summarising chapter of a compilation thesis.

Lan honetan Erdi Aroko euskararen kanpoko eta barneko historia laburra aurkezten dugu. Kanpoko historiari dagokionez, orduan euskarak zukeen hedaduraz, elebitasun egoeraz eta bestelako gaiez dihardugu. Barne historiari dagokionez, Erdi Aroko euskarak zituen ezaugarri fonologiko, morfologiko eta sintaktikoak azalduko ditugu. Amaieran  ondorio gisa Erdi Aroko euskararen periodizazio zirriborro bat aurkeztuko dugu.

This dissertation investigates the synchrony and diachrony of the vocalism of a variety of Northeast Asian languages, especially Korean, Mongolic, and Tungusic languages, which have traditionally been described as having developed from a palatal system. The dissertation rewrites the vocalic history by demonstrating that the original vowel harmony in these languages was in fact based on an RTR, rather than a palatal, contrast, and provides a formal account for the development of individual vowel systems within the framework of Contrastive Hierarchy (Dresher, 2009).

Following the general and theoretical background in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 begins to explore how the vowel contrasts in the modern Mongolic languages are hierarchically structured. It proceeds to propose an RTR analysis for Old Mongolian (contra Poppe, 1955) based on a combination of arguments from the comparative method, the typology of vowel shifts, and the phonetics of vowel features. Consequently, the palatal system in Kalmyk/Oirat is understood not as a retention but an innovation as a result of an RTR-to-palatal shift, contra Svantesson’s (1985) palatal-to-RTR shift hypothesis. Chapter 3 presents an innovative view that Middle Korean had an RTR contrast-based vowel system and that various issues in Korean historical phonology receive better treatment under the contrastive hierarchy approach. Chapter 3 also argues that Ki-Moon Lee’s (1964, 1972) Korean vowel shift hypothesis is untenable, based on the RTR analysis of Old Mongolian presented in Chapter 2. Chapter 4 shows that an RTR-based contrastive hierarchy analysis also holds for the lesser-studied Tungusic languages including Proto-Tungusic. Turning to theoretical issues, Chapter 5 investigates the minimal difference between Mongolic vs. Tungusic /i/ in terms of its transparency/opacity to labial harmony (van der Hulst & Smith, 1988). The contrastive hierarchy approaches to the Mongolic and Tungusic vowel systems in the previous chapters, coupled with a “fusional harmony” approach (Mester, 1986), provide a very simple but elegant solution to the minimal difference between the two languages, allowing us to maintain the Contrastivist Hypothesis (Hall, 2007). Chapter 6 addresses empirical and theoretical implications of the major findings in the main chapters and concludes the thesis.

It is well-known that in the Finnic languages there is group of Uralic word-roots which appear to have undergone an unexplained vowel shift in the first and second syllables: e.g., Finnish sarvi : sarve- ‘antler’ (< Proto-Uralic *śorwa) and talvi : talve- ‘winter’ (< Proto-Uralic *tälwä). These words have been referred to as ‘secondary e-stems’, as the shape of their cognates outside Finnic suggests a proto-form with the stem vowel *a or *ä. This paper proposes a solution which provides a regular phonological account of the development of this class of word-roots. The solution involves the revision of certain aspects in the theory of historical vocalism of Saami and Mordvin.

This paper is intended for scholars who would like to evaluate the theory that Basque ultimately derives from Indo-European, but find published evidence on this subject either too complex (my JIES paper) or too terse (my self-published dictionary).
This paper therefore provides a linear, step-by-step introduction to this theory, in four stages:
1. an overview of Pre-Basque, as reconstructed by Michelena and Trask;
2. a gradual illustration of the most secure Indo-European etymologies of Pre-Basque basic lexicon (with intermediate lists of corresponding sound laws);
3. a list of less obvious etymologies;
4. a summary of sound laws.
This linear organization of the subject matter should enable scholars to evaluate the theory in a matter of hours, without going through the painstaking details, cross-references and revisions in the JIES paper.

This dissertation develops optimality-theoretic analyses of word-level stress assignment in two languages with lexical accent, Cupeño (Takic, Uto-Aztecan) and Hittite (Anatolian, Indo-European); it also assesses the implications of word stress in Hittite and the other Anatolian languages for the reconstruction of stress assignment in Proto-Indo European.

I argue that stress assignment in Cupeño is governed by the BASIC ACCENTUATION PRINCIPLE (BAP; Kiparsky and Halle 1977): stress is assigned to the leftmost lexically accented morpheme, else to the word’s left edge. This analysis is compared to that of Alderete (2001), who
argues that Cupeño shows accentual root faithfulness — i.e., that the accentual properties of roots are privileged over non-root morphemes. I show that the BAP analysis is both simpler and attains greater empirical coverage than the root faithfulness analysis, which fails to account for certain attested stress patterns that are captured under the BAP analysis. Thus reanalyzed, Cupeño has two important typological implications. First, without support from Cupeño, root faithfulness may be unattested as a feature of lexical accent systems. Second, Cupeño provides a clear typological parallel for the ancient IE languages on the basis of which the BAP was posited — in particular, Vedic Sanskrit — as well as for Hittite, where I argue that it is also operative.

The analysis of Hittite stress advanced in this dissertation is the first systematic attempt at a synchronic generative treatment of its word stress patterns. Having established that stress assignment in Hittite inflection is governed by the BAP, I also adduce evidence for accentual dominance —  i.e., morphemes whose accentual specification “overrides” the BAP. I propose that accentual dominance in Hittite is a consequence of morphological headedness: the lexical accent of the word’s head morpheme is privileged in Hittite, just as Revithiadou (1999) has argued for other lexical accent systems.

Finally, this dissertation addresses the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) word-prosodic system. Hittite and the other Anatolian languages are not traditionally viewed as important sources for the reconstruction of this system; however, I contend that the BAP is reconstructible for PIE and that — against this traditional view — this reconstruction depends crucially on the Anatolian evidence, which converges with Vedic Sanskrit in this respect.

This volume is a collection of papers dealing with various aspects of language change. The collection is a good illustration of the place occupied by historical linguistics in modern linguistics as aptly captured by Joseph (2001) ‘while not in the center of the field of linguistics, historical linguistics nonetheless draws on virtually all aspects of the field in ways that other subfields do not’. This wide array of different aspects of modern linguistics that historical studies embrace can be seen in the papers included in the present volume. There are papers by Bloch-Rozmej, Jaskuła, Wójcik and Zdziebko, which deal with phonology and phonological theory. Syntactic analysis forms a major part of the contributions by Bondaruk and Bartczak Meszyńska, Charzyńska-Wójcik, Malicka-Kleparska, Mokrosz and Zhang. Papers by Charzyńska-Wójcik and Charzyński and a contribution by Lis deal with the historical evolution of the lexicon, while Szymanek deals with historical morphology. Finally, a contribution by Klimkowski is an interesting and inspiring inquiry into the nature of change in general.

Speakers bilingual in two genetically related languages may become aware of regular sound correspondences between the languages, and this gives an impetus to mimic the observed patterns by adapting loanwords to these correspondences. Due to this process of etymological nativization, even young loanwords can display correspondences that are not phonetically transparent. The study presented in this paper shows that loanwords between Saami and Finnish, two not very closely related branches of the Uralic family, show vowel substitution rules such as i > a and a > i, which lack a phonetic motivation but conform to correspondences in inherited vocabulary. Such phenomena require a revision of the criteria commonly applied in the dating and stratification of loanwords: in a case of intensive borrowing between two related languages, sound correspondences do not always allow one to consistently distinguish between older and younger loanwords or even between loanwords and cognate items.

The Germanic word family of Gothic þagkjan 'think' has been connected to a PIE root meaning 'to pull' via an intermediate meaning 'to weigh' attested for derivatives of this root. However, there is a phonological obstacle for this semantically plausible connection: the root must be reconstructed as *tengʱ-with a final aspirate which should yield Germanic *ng and not *nk, whence the rejection of this etymology in recent dictionaries. A similar situation is found in the case of Old Frisian diunk, ON døkkr, OHG tunchal 'dark' , obviously related to Hittite dankui-'dark' for which Kloekhorst (2008: 829) reconstructs PIE *dʰengʷ-(with final media); however, Middle Welsh deweint 'night' < Proto-Celtic *dangwantī-can also be compared and clearly presupposes *dʰn̥ gʷʱ-with an aspirate which would allow further connections including Germanic words with *ng. In both cases we find a voiceless stop after a nasal instead of an expected voiced stop and inner-Germanic variation. Variation of stops after nasals is in fact rather widespread in Germanic and calls for an explanation. Since previous explanations are only partly helpful, a new approach is proposed according to which stops after nasals first merged in *T which was then voiced except when immediately preceding the accent. This scenario would account for the variation and enable us to accept some attractive etymologies .

Macro-Jê is a major language family of Eastern South America. Historical-comparative studies of Macro-Jê are still incipient; in particular, there is no consensus regarding its exact composition in the scientific community. For this reason, it has been referred to as a “working hypothesis” (cf. RODRIGUES, 1999, p. 165) or even the “caput mortuum of South American linguistics” (RIVET, 1924, p. 697) in a number of earlier works. Thanks to recent advances in the documentation of Brazilian and Bolivian indigenous languages, we are now in position to reevaluate earlier claims on the relations between the languages that have been classified as Macro-Jê.
This Ph.D. dissertation aims to provide a reconstruction of aspects of the ancestral language of the Macro-Jê language family, including domains such as phonology, morphosyntax and lexicon. In addition to applying the traditional methods employed by historical-comparative linguistics, such as the comparative method and the internal reconstruction method, I make an attempt at reconstructing elements of Proto-Macro-Jê syntax within the Diachronic Construction Grammar framework. Throughout, I have adhered to bottom-up reconstruction principles with external control. For languages whose common origin could not be proven using the comparative method, probability judgments regarding their relation to Macro-Jê have been made through a tool known as preliminary lexicostatistics.
I conclude that the following language groups should be classified as Macro-Jê: Jê, Jaikó, Maxakalí, Krenák, Kamakã, Karajá, Ofayé, Rikbáktsa, and Jabutí; Chiquitano could be related to the aforementioned languages at a deeper level. Contrary to earlier claims by a number of authors, I exclude Boróro, Yaathê, Purí, Guató, Karirí, and Otí from the proposal, though a long-range genetic relationship may exist between Macro-Jê, Boróro, Karirí, and Tupian.
For Proto-Macro-Jê, I reconstruct the consonants */p, m, w, t, n, r, c, ñ, j, k, ŋ/ and the vowels */a, â, ə, ə̂, y, o, ô, u, e, ê, i, ə̃, ỹ, ũ, ẽ, ĩ/. Its maximal syllable structure is reconstructed as */CrVC°/, where /°/ stands for the so called echo vowel. Complex onsets could be formed exclusively by the combination of a peripheral (labial or velar) non-continuant and a rhotic: */pr, mr, kr, ŋr/.
Proto-Macro-Jê is reconstructed as head-final. A subclass of nouns (known as inflectable, or relational nouns), a subclass of intransitive verbs (known as descriptives), and the totality of transitive verbs and postpositions required their argument to be expressed immediately adjacent to the stem, to its left, either as a noun phrase or as a person index (one of *a- 2, *i- 3NCRF, *ta- 3CRF). I also reconstruct the morphophonological behavior of the */j/-initial stems, whose initial (thematic) consonant was elided upon the accretion of a person index; the person indices, in their turn, had allomorphs whose occurrence was restricted to the */j/-initial stems (*∅- 2, *c- 3NCRF, *t- 3CRF). A defective paradigm with no dedicated first person index can be reconstructed.
Finally, I tackle the reconstruction of the clause-level morphosyntax of the ancestral language of the Jê, Maxakalí, Krenák, and Kamakã families (“Proto-Eastern Macro-Jê”). I reconstruct four distinct constructions headed by verbs, or four clause types. Subordinate clauses displayed ergative-absolutive alignment, and were headed by verbs overtly marked as non-finite. Finite clauses (default pattern main clauses, imperative clauses, and coordinated clauses) displayed split intransitivity, whereby the only argument of monovalent predicates was encoded differently for each of the two subclasses of monovalent verbs. Imperative clauses diverged from the default pattern regarding the expression of their agentive argument (A/SA), obligatory in the default pattern and inhibited in imperative clauses. In the coordinated construction, consequent clauses were joined to the preceding clause through an element that tracked the identity of their subjects (nominative arguments, A/S), thus configuring a switch reference pattern. In the event of coreferent subjects, the conjunction *nẽc (~ -j, -ñ) ‘and (same subject)’ was used; in this case, the agentive argument of the consequent clause was not overtly expressed. Another strategy was deployed for expressing disjoint reference, whereby clauses were simply juxtaposed, with the consequent clause being introduced by an agentive pronoun, or connected through the element *mə̃ ‘and (different subject)’ (third person only).

Bantu languages commonly signal tense, aspect, mood, polarity, and clause-type distinctions with tonal as well as segmental cues. The inflectional tonal melodies on verbs may be viewed as underlyingly floating H tones (henceforth ‘melodic Hs’) contributed by the morpho-syntax that are assigned by rule to different positions within the verb. Along with a small set of construction specific tonal adjustment rules, the number and position of melodic Hs distinguish one tonal melody from another.

The present dissertation makes two contributions to the study of the special role that tone plays in Bantu verbal morpho-syntax. First, it contributes extensive novel documentation of the verbal tone system of Idakho: a variety of the Luhya cluster of Bantu languages spoken near Lake Victoria in western Kenya and eastern Uganda. Second, I show how aspects of the Idakho system and that of other Luhya varieties like it have contributed to the development of rich diversity within the verbal tone systems of Luhya.

Part I comprises the descriptive component of the dissertation and emphasizes the impact of several factors known to influence verb tone in Bantu. Because many language consultants contributed to the project, the dissertation makes note of variation within and across speakers of Idakho. In Part II, I demonstrate the role that a preference for prosodically well-cued morphological boundaries has played in two striking tonal developments within the Luhya macrolanguage: the loss of a lexical tonal contrast reconstructed to Proto-Bantu and the introduction of tonal melodies in constructions for which there is no historical precedence for tonal inflection.

La nasalisation vocalique en portugais est un sujet qui a suscité de nombreuses recherches, notamment (i) sur le statut des voyelles nasales : voyelles nasales phonologiques (/Ṽ/) ou rimes syllabiques complexes (/VN/ ou /VV/) ? Et (ii) sur les changements à l’origine de la convergence des terminaisons latines -ANE, -ONE, -ANU, -UDINE, -ANT et -UNT dans la diphtongue nasale.
Nous procédons à l’analyse critique des recherches menées sur la structure syllabique et les voyelles nasales de cette langue pour en proposer une nouvelle analyse synchronique, en nous fondant sur le modèle dit du « CV strict » de la Phonologie du Gouvernement, où les structures à constituants hiérarchisés sont remplacées par des relations latérales entre positions.
Nous basons notre analyse synchronique sur trois aspects : (i) des données historiques, car les changements diachroniques nous donnent des informations à propos des conditions nécessaires à la formation des noyaux nasals ; (ii) des données de phonétique acoustique, en partant du principe que la durée phonétique est l’un des corrélats de la complexité phonologique des noyaux nasals ; (iii) des données de variation dialectale.
Enfin, dans la partie diachronique de l’étude, nous montrons comment le modèle proposé aide à expliquer les facteurs qui ont mené à la constitution des noyaux nasals du portugais moderne ou l'en ont empêchée.


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Vocalic nasalisation in Portuguese has been the subject of numerous studies, especially regarding (i) the status of nasal vowels: are they phonological nasal vowels (/Ṽ/) or complex syllable rhymes (/VN/ or /VV/)? And (ii) the changes responsible for the convergence of the Latin endings -ANE, -ONE, -ANU, -UDINE, -ANT and -UNT into the nasal diphthong -ão.
We proceed with a critical analysis of the studies on this language’s syllable structure and nasal vowels to propose a new synchronic analysis of it, based on the “Strict CV” model of Government Phonology, where hierarchical constituents’ structures are replaced by lateral relations between positions.
Our synchronic analysis will be based on three aspects: (i) on historical data, diachronic changes providing information on the conditions required for forming a nasal nucleus; (ii) on acoustic phonetic data, assuming that phonetic duration can be a correlate to nasal nuclei phonological complexity; (iii) on dialectal variation data.
Lastly, in the diachronic part of this thesis, we demonstrate how the model we propose helps to explain the phonetic changes that either led to the creation of modern Portuguese nasal nuclei or prevented it.

Cet ouvrage propose une description comparative et diachronique de cinq langues mayas parlées au Mexique et au Guatemala : le cholti’, le ch’orti’, le chontal d’Acalán, le chontal moderne et le chol. Ces langues, en partie disparues (cholti’ et le chontal d’Acalán) ou classées selon l’UNESCO comme langues sérieusement en danger (chontal moderne) voire en situation critique (ch’orti’), font partie d’un même groupe de langues, celui des langues cholanes. Ce travail, principalement fondé sur des données de première main, a le double but d’offrir une meilleure description de chacune de ces langues grâce à une approche comparative, mais aussi de reconstruire en partie leur protolangue. Cet accès au passé est d’autant plus important que ce groupe linguistique comprend une autre langue particulièrement importante au sein de la famille maya, celle de l’écriture glyphique précolombienne. L’introduction de cette thèse sera notamment l’occasion d’une synthèse de nos connaissances sur l’histoire des populations cholanes au sein de l’aire maya depuis le début de notre ère. Nous nous focaliserons ici principalement sur la phonologie, la morphophonologie et la morphosyntaxe, étude qui nous permettra d’analyser plus de 200 morphèmes grammaticaux différents de ces langues agglutinantes.

This is certainly a highly speculative paper, which may, for some Indoeuropeanists, even fulfill the criteria for the "si tacuisses"-exclamation. Unfortunately, there are some misprints, I hope I found the most damaging ones and marked them in the text.

This paper provides a systematic account of the emergence of contour tone, based on a ‘syllable-tone-register’ model and a large body of new firsthand acoustic tonal data. The emergence of tone is a process of pitch upgrading from an accompanying feature of phonation types to a distinctive feature. It involves three linguistic prerequisites, which bring about three processes: (L1) various phonation types, clear voice, breathy voice, falsetto, etc., which intrinsically induce pitch differences. (L2) Mono-syllabic (with great sonorous power) morpheme structure that enhance the pitch differences. (L3) Phonologicalization, which conceptualizes the enhanced pitch differences to a phonological category, tone. Furthermore, this paper proposes two ecological preconditions behind the linguistic prerequisites: (N1) Humid climates, which tend to induce a breathy voice. (N2) Small body-size, which tends to induce falsetto and creaky voice. A flowchart is designed to show how these prerequisites lead to different types of the world’s languages and finally output contour tone.